ARTICLES ABOUT LAIR BY DATE - PAGE 3

From the street, the safe houses look nondescript, much like any other scuffed and dust-coated buildings in this war-ruined capital. But behind their anonymous walls and iron gates lie clues to a sinister world few outsiders have ever seen: piles of extremist religious tracts that exhort followers to kill Westerners, stockpiles of anti-personnel mines and rockets, wall maps pinpointing American military targets in the Middle East and, pasted as...

In the part of town Donella Sanders calls "Hollywood," the homes are stately, the grounds ablaze with azaleas, and the porch furniture generally white wicker or black wrought iron. In the part of town Sanders calls home--across the railroad tracks, behind the warehouses--the houses are far more modest, the yards less manicured, and the porch furniture more eclectic: tattered La-Z-Boys, rolling office chairs, spare car seats, full-sized sofas--pretty much whatever is left over after the inside has been furnished.

What better way to start the new year than with a book that completely lives up to its title? Intensity (Knopf, $25) is Dean Koontz's latest, and the very appropriately titled thriller is among his best. College buddies Chyna Shepherd and Laura Templeton drive out to the Napa Valley to dine with Laura's parents. Staying over for the night, Chyna hears a banging in the house, and when she gets up to investigate, she discovers that Laura and her parents have been brutally murdered.

Despite saying they would wait until November, the Florida Panthers have begun looking outside South Florida for a place for the NHL team to play as soon as next season. Team officials say they are skeptical that Dade County can find a way to build a new arena. The Panthers are losing more than $1 million a month, mostly due to a poor lease at the Miami Arena, team officials have said. "Without a financially viable public-sector plan for a new building . . . it is now necessary for the Panthers to commence exploring options outside of South Florida for the 1996-97 NHL season," James Blosser, executive vice president of Huizenga Holdings, told the Metro-Dade County Commission in a letter.

Dali the llama held court underneath a juniper tree and greeted visitors by pressing her nose against theirs. She's named for the artist Salvador Dali, not the spiritual leader of the Tibetan Buddhists, and she has an elusive, mystical quality that is difficult to capture. Surprisingly gentle for her size, Dali patiently allowed her neck and legs to be stroked and she made a humming sound that was almost tantric in its meditative melody. Dali lives in Llama Llair, which is nestled on German Church Road between Willow Springs and Burr Ridge on a forested strip of land in unincorporated Cook County.

For more than two weeks, the 6 million residents of this city have been watching and waiting with hope and fear. Since Nov. 1, soldiers have been a common sight in the streets, and in recent days military helicopters have circled overhead. On many nights, television reports show police and soldiers hunkered behind rifles, aiming at the hillside shantytowns known as favelas. About 16,000 soldiers are on alert as part of Operation Rio, a federal campaign against the drug traffickers who control most of the city's 500 favelas.

The beautiful Princess Daphne has been kidnapped by the fire-breathing dragon Scorch. Control the actions of Dirk the Daring as he fights his way through an enchanted castle to save the fair maiden and reach the Dragon's Lair. Dragon's Lair comes to life in your living room on the 3DO, courtesy of ReadySoft. The cartoon quality animation on this title is second to none. Dragon's Lair may have been the first of its kind, but it is still one of the best. On his quest, Dirk will visit many strange places in this cartoon adventure and fight even stranger enemies, such as the Lizard King and Black Knight.

When muskie master Joe Bucher goes to school, he becomes an acolyte of a man he calls the sport's Gen. Patton. That would be ex-Chicagoan Tom Gelb, whom Bucher believes is one of the greatest muskie hunters the game has seen. "He is an exceptionally smart, tough fisherman," Bucher said last week from his muskie lair in Eagle River, Wis. "Of all the anglers with whom I`ve fished, I`d rate him the best. He's certainly one of the top three or four in the country." Bucher was crowing praises for Gelb after catching the tail end of a prolific soiree to Ontario's Lake of the Woods last week.

Is capitalism running amok in Poland? Some people think so, now that there's dancing in Adolf Hitler's former headquarters. Since a private company took control of the Wolf's Lair this spring, there has been dancing on Saturday nights and the manager says he dreams of dressing his waitresses in Nazi-like uniforms. "This is profitable for me," boasted manager Ryszard Stunzo, one of Poland's energetic new entrepreneurs, who eagerly embraces his nation's transition to capitalism.